Swell producing low pressure in the Atlantic meets high pressure over Europe, creating an almost ideal situation. However the high is slightly shifted back over the North Sea creating strong offshore winds for the western coasts along the pressure gradient of the systems' connection.

IT looked like the perfect weekend in Europe but the wind added an edge to it, a razor edge which seemed to slice through premium rubber like it was a £10 forecourt shorty. Despite the freezing temperatures you lot were crunching though frosty sand and clinging to the marram grass in offshores gusting up to 40mph capturing the gift of Easter.

And no we are not talking thermodynamically dubious resurrections, or pagan festivities related to Ishtar, the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and fertility, or even Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. Amazingly it's not remotely related to hollow chocolate eggs that you must bestow on your loved ones for fear of appearing uncaring despite your actions during the other 360+ days. You must 'buy' to 'give' people, and it must be overpriced chocolate of dubious quality, probably containing palm oil. What we are talking about is the four days you get off work to enjoy the bounty bestowed on you by a vast low pressure rotating out in the Atlantic and a realtively stable high pressure system centred just east of the UK in an almost perfect position.

Here's another "best of" the shots uploaded to the site over the last couple of days from the UK and Ireland. This was the weekend where the clocks changed and it looked so perfect until you stepped outside and realised that it might be officially spring but the thermostat was stuck somewhere in mid-February. In better news you all gained that extra hour for the post-work session. Did you score?